A Very Long Walk with Christoph Rehage

Adventurer, author and photographer Christoph Rehage is walking all the way from China to Germany, 9500 km so far. He is currently in Iran. We caught up with him along the way!

TS: One question you get asked the most:

CR: Why do you walk, why don’t you ride a bicycle, are you really walking all the way, I mean, walking, really?? – To which I give a different answer every time I hear the question.

TS: What was in your bag when you started out:

CR: Two cameras, a computer, a winter sleeping bag, a summer sleeping bag, a handheld gps, seven pairs of socks, two pairs of underpants, two shirts, two pants, one fleece jacket, one wind breaker, one wool hat, a pair of gloves, one pair of gaiters, my electric toothbrush, some chargers, a cellphone, one book (“to live” by Yu Hua), my diary notepad, a pen, a pair of trekking poles, reusable cable binders.

TS: The loveliest stretch you have walked so far, purely in terms of scenic beauty:

CR: Hm… hard to say. I liked the Tibetan highlands of Tianzhu in the spring of 2008. Walking at 3000 meters altitude, with yaks dotting the hills around me, that was pretty neat. Not sure if it was the best part, but it was good.

TS: And the worst.

CR: I am currently in a rather idyllic part of Iran. To the left of me are the mountains, to the right is the Caspian Sea. Sometimes they seem to want to touch each other. Between them is the highway, and only the highway – that means there is no secondary road that I could walk on. So I cling to the shoulder of the highway, and I see the scenery from the corner of my eye, and the suicidal Iranian drivers are hurling towards me from my first stride in the morning to my last step at night. And I hate it. But I’m not sure if this is the worst part. It’s just bad.